Mayberry tourney serves off

Leroy Brown, Gleaner Writer

Twenty-four teams from 14 schools began the quest for top honours yesterday in the Mayberry Investments High School Tennis tournament, at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, Piccadilly Avenue.

The tournament, which is sanctioned by Tennis Jamaica and has associate sponsors Access Financial Services and Honey Bun, got off to a great start yesterday. The semi-finals will take place today, starting at 9 a.m.

Competition is taking place in boys and girls Under-19 and boys and girls Under-14. In the Under-19 the format is four singles and three doubles for each matchup, while in Under-14 competition, it's three singles and two doubles.

Wolmer's boys, who are the defending champions in the Under-19 category, bow into the competition today against Hillel, who defeated Kingston College 4-1 yesterday. Ocho Rios, who had a good victory over Munro yesterday, also by a 4-1 margin, will take on Campion College this morning.

Impressive

On the girls' side, Immaculate Conception, who are the defending champions in the girls' Under-19, were impressive in defeating St Andrew's 4-0. Wolmer's also looked menacing, with a 4-1 victory over Hillel.

In Under-14 competition for boys Hillel, who drew a first-round bye, will go against Campion this morning, in what is expected to very hard-fought contest.

The organisers have shifted to a different scoring system this year, and the first player to six games is the winner. If there is a tie at that stage, the outcome is decided by a seven-point tiebreaker. All ties are being played on one court so as to garner as much crowd appeal as possible for the various teams.

The finals take place tomorrow, and the schools participating are: Wolmer's (girls and boys), Campion, Hillel, Munro, Jamaica College, Montego Bay High, Immaculate, Hampton, Ochos Rios High, Ardenne, Kingston College, St Andrew High and Mount Alvernia.